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Cell tower incident victim faring better

By Jenny Kane jkane@daily-times.com

Updated:
11/29/2012 09:47:41 PM MST

FARMINGTON — The man who suffered serious injuries when a section of a cell phone tower fell on him two weeks ago is in fair condition, according to San Juan Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathryn Pettijohn.

Sammy Pacheco, 51, has been recovering at the San Juan Regional Medical Center for the past two weeks. He was admitted Nov. 15 after Air Care transported him from Little Water, where he had been working on a cell phone tower owned by the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.

While on the tower, a 60-foot section toppled over and part of fell on him. He was in critical condition.

The Navajo Nation Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident.

Agency officials did not return calls or emails for comment this week, but earlier stated that they were getting help from the New Mexico OSHA.

"It usually takes us up to one to six months to investigate, but it depends on the circumstances," said Bob Genoway, acting bureau chief for NM OSHA.

The company overseeing the construction of the tower, L&B Telecommunications, LLC, has not been cited by NM OSHA, Genoway said.

The Mississippi-based company has been cited several times by the Navajo Nation OSHA.

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